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Valley Advocate Review of Not Far Now

Valley Advocate / Northampton
Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Richard ShindellNot Far Now(Signature)

This record may be the best release of the decade. Richard Shindell is the master of point-of-view, sometimes playing the dispassionate observer, but often inhabiting the very soul of one of his characters. In "A Juggler Out in Traffic," he's the holy fool entertaining the self-absorbed; in "One Man's Arkansas," he's the American Dream gone busted and looking for the survivor's edge. Those who caught Shindell at the Iron Horse last November heard him sing "Balloon Man" as a work in progress; hear it as a finished product and you'll understand how editing transforms goodness into greatness. Shindell wraps his poetic vision in moody, moving arrangements. The thinking man's folk singer has just raised the bar. —Rob Weir